A federal judge says parents and students at Oxford High School can proceed with a lawsuit against some employees there and the district itself over a mass shooting in 2021.
The suits claim Oxford officials did not do enough to safeguard the school from a student who fatally shot four classmates and wounded seven other people.
Numerous civil lawsuits accuse school officials of ignoring signs teen Ethan Crumbley was troubled and could become violent.
A lower court had agreed with the district that its employees have governmental immunity against lawsuits and did nothing to directly cause the deadly shooting.
Now, a U.S. district judge finds the school’s Dean of students and a counselor went beyond those bounds by threatening to turn over Crumbley’s parents to Child Protective Services if they did not seek help for their son.
The judge writes that the comments came during a meeting with the teen on the day of the shooting when officials could have reasonably known Crumbley might be spurred to take violent action immediately.